Harvey Industries Inc.This former television cabinet & circuit board manufacturing facility in Athens, Henderson County is currently in the Operation and Maintenance phase of the State Superfund Program.http://www.tceq.com/remediation/superfund/state/harvey.htmlhttp://www.tceq.com/@@site-logo/tceqlogo-3colors.gif

Harvey Industries Inc.

This former television cabinet & circuit board manufacturing facility in Athens, Henderson County is currently in the Operation and Maintenance phase of the State Superfund Program.

Site Background

Harvey Industries, Inc. (a.k.a. Harvey Joint Venture) and Curtis Mathes Manufacturing Company operated a manufacturing facility on 87.779 acres, located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Farm Road 2495 and Texas 31 (One Curtis Mathes Drive) in Athens. The facility, known as Harvey Industries, Inc., was used to manufacture television cabinets and circuit boards on site. Large amounts of paint sludge accumulated on site in 55-gallon drums. In 1972, Curtis Mathes began the process of converting a clay pit on the west side of the site into a landfill, which went into operation in 1973, and was reported to have received office wastes, plant cafeteria wastes, cardboard, particle board, vinyl, wood, sawdust, metal cans, dried paint wastes, and incinerator ash. In December 1981 and January 1982, Curtis Mathes conducted a fire training school at the site to dispose of the backlog of chemical wastes accumulated over a 20-year period. In July 1985, Harvey Industries, Inc., entered into a a compliance agreement with the Texas Department of Water Resources (TDWR), requiring Harvey Industries, Inc. to submit a closure plan for cleanup of the fire training pit. In November, Harvey Industries, Inc. completed drilling 19 soil borings around the fire training pit to investigate subsurface conditions. According to an April 1986 report, Harvey Industries, Inc. said analysis of samples collected from the wells indicated the presence of methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), isobutyl alcohol and toluene in the groundwater beneath the former fire training pit. Harvey Industries, Inc. installed a groundwater recovery and treatment system for the fire training pit in 1989. The treated water was discharged to the City of Athens wastewater treatment plant. The company filed for Chapter 7 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 1992 and the water treatment plant was abandoned. In November 1993, the state entered into an agreeement with a third party, Lorax Corp., which allowed Lorax Corp. to clean up the on-site warehouse in exchange for leasing the warehouse.

Superfund Actions Taken to Date

March 1994, a copy of the hazard ranking system (HRS) documentation record was prepared for the Harvey Industries, Inc. site.

May 9, 1995, a legal notice was published in the TexasRegister (20 TexReg 3506-3507) describing the site and proposing the 87.779-acre site for listing on the state Superfund registry. A public meeting was to be held June 15, 1995, at the Henderson County Commissioners' Court room in Athens to receive citizen comments.

June 15, 1995, a public meeting was held at the Henderson County Commissioners' Court room in Athens to receive citizen comments on the proposal of the site to be listed on the state Superfund registry.

August 31, 1995, TNRCC issued a work order to a contractor to determine the nature and extent of contamination (remedial investigation/feasibility study) for the 87.779-acre site.

June 9, 1997, TNRCC released 44.335 acres to the Lorax Corporation, including the warehouse and surrounding sheds and parking lot, only to occupy and lease.

September 1, 1998, TNRCC approved Lorax Corporation's final report on the investigation and cleanup of the warehouse.

September 16, 1998, the remedial investigation final report for the remaining portion of the site was approved by TNRCC.

March 11, 1999, feasibility study under way.

February 5, 2001, TNRCC issued a work order for a baseline human health risk evaluation.

May 10, 2001, the February 5, 2001, work order was amended to include the removal of existing monitor wells and installation of new monitor wells and an estimate of costs to remove onsite waste.

July 31, 2001, TNRCC received the baseline human health risk report, and also received the final report on installation of new monitoring wells and initial well sampling results. The reports were reviewed and approved.

November 16, 2001, a legal notice was published in the Texas Register announcing a public meeting would be held December 18, 2001, at the Cain Center in Athens to present to the community the best choice among cleanup remedies and justification for how the remedy demonstrates compliance with the relevant cleanup standards.

December 11, 2001, a notice was published in the Athens Daily Review to announce that the scheduled Dec. 18, 2001, public meeting to receive public comment on the proposed remedy was cancelled. The proposed remedy is being re-evaluated in light of a new, more stringent standard for arsenic adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Oct. 31, 2001. Once further investigation is conducted and alternatives are analyzed, the TNRCC will conduct a public meeting in Athens to propose a remedy.

February 26, 2002, TNRCC performed additional field investigation around the landfill area.

April 2002, During sampling of monitoring wells, cadmium contamination, above standard health-based limits, was detected in the downgradient off-site well. This discovery will require further investigation and re-evaluation of the proposed remedy for the site.

May 5, 2002, TNRCC completed the soil gas survey and the survey of the landfill area.

May 27, 2002, TNRCC issued a work order for the contractor to revise the presumptive remedy document.

October 29, 2002, TCEQ's contractor redeveloped and sampled the monitoring wells to gather additional data for the finalization of the proposed remedial action document for the site.

December 2002, TCEQ's contractor submitted the semiannual groundwater monitoring report of the sampling done in October.

June 2003, TCEQ completed its review of the landfill gas survey, approved the work plan, and issued a work order to implement the survey.

July 2003, the field activities to delineate the migration of methane gas were completed.

July 28, 2003, TCEQ's consultant completed field work for the landfill gas survey. No methane gas was detected in the buildings.

September 2003, TCEQ issued a work order to begin the design of the pilot scale landfill gas management system.

January-February 2004, TCEQ completed the review of the predesign tasks for the landfill gas management system, then met with the contractor to discuss remaining remedial design tasks.

May 2004, TCEQ and its contractor visited the site to inspect it and to prepare proposals for the groundwater sampling and a landfill gas management system.

July 2004, TCEQ issued a work order for the completion of the landfill gas management system for the site.

September 2004, TCEQ completed the review of the landfill gas generation estimates and odor assessment report.

February 2005, the plan was approved for groundwater monitor well sampling and surface water sampling activities.

April 2005, a work order was issued for the groundwater and surface water sampling activities.

May 2005, TCEQ's contractor began premobilization activities of subcontracting and scheduling for the groundwater and surface water sampling planned for the site.

June 2005, the contractor mobilized to perform well installations and sampling activities.

December 16, 2005, a legal notice was published in the Texas Register (30 TexReg 8472) announcing the intent to perform a removal action for the site. The on-site landfill is generating landfill gases.

March 2006, contractors for TCEQ mobilized to the site to begin installation of the landfill gas venting system as described in the December 2005 notice of removal action.

June 2006, the removal action to install a system for venting landfill gas from the facility and prevent migration of gas to adjacent structures was completed.

May 11, 2007, a legal notice was published in the Texas Register (32 TexReg 2698-2699) and the Athens Daily Review, proposing to delete the site from the state Superfund registry in accordance with 30 TAC §335.344(c), and inviting public comment on the determination that no hazardous substances attributable to the site remain in groundwater at levels exceeding human health protection levels. No further remedial action is planned, however, the state recognizes a continuing obligation to maintain the solid waste landfill that will remain on the site. A public meeting will be held June 14 at the Cain Civic Center in Athens to receive comments from the community on the proposal to delete the site from the Superfund registry.

August 31, 2007, a legal notice was published in the Texas Register, (32 TexReg 5786-5787), officially deleting the site from the state Superfund registry in accordance with 30 TAC §335.344.

August 31, 2007, a notice of environmental conditions was recorded in the real property records of Henderson County that an industrial landfill remains on the site, and lists warnings concerning activities that may harm or damage the landfill cover.

December 2008, the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Plan was finalized.

May 1, 2009, A work order for annual Operations & Maintenance (O&M) activities was sent to the TCEQ contractor. The activities are currently scheduled to begin on May 25, 2009. O&M activities to be conducted include site inspection, landfill cover evaluation, groundwater and surface water sampling, and landfill gas interception system sampling.

April 27, 2011, SPM visited the site to determine if there was any damage from severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. No damage was noted.

July 2011, Contractor plugged and abandoned all piezometer wells and all but three groundwater monitoring wells; sampled the two surface water ponds and the three remaining groundwater monitoring wells; sampled the landfill gas wells, vents, and potential interior vapor intrusion points; conducted an annual operation and maintenance inspection; removed woody vegetation (trees) along the fence line, mowed the site, and made basic repairs to the fence.

July 2012 - Contractor plugged and abandoned the three remaining groundwater monitoring wells; sampled the two surface water ponds and the three remaining groundwater monitoring wells; sampled the landfill gas wells, and vents; conducted an annual operation and maintenance inspection; removed woody vegetation (trees) along the fence line, mowed the site, made basic repairs to the fence, and lowered the water level in the north pond.